[Maine-birds] Fw: Bradbury Mountain State Park (15 Apr 2022) 489 Raptors

Bradbury Mountain State Park
Pownal, Maine, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 15, 2022
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	1	1	1
Turkey Vulture	6	262	447
Osprey	46	134	135
Bald Eagle	3	12	72
Northern Harrier	6	54	69
Sharp-shinned Hawk	70	198	228
Cooper's Hawk	7	16	33
Northern Goshawk	0	1	3
Red-shouldered Hawk	5	21	115
Broad-winged Hawk	261	298	298
Red-tailed Hawk	4	27	128
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	74	167	177
Merlin	1	7	11
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	3
Unknown Accipiter	1	5	6
Unknown Buteo	2	3	4
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	2	5	6
Total:	489	1211	1736

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	16:00:00
Total observation time:	8 hours
Official Counter	Zane Baker
Observers:	Dave Fensore, Derek Lovitch, Jeannette Lovitch, Jessica Costa, Jim Pinfold, Mathew Gilbert, Pablo DaCosta

Visitors:
It was pretty crowded at the summit for a Friday, but it was also the start of school vacation and a pleasant day overall. There were many more pairs of binoculars up there today and I think most everyone got some decent looks at some birds. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to greet everyone who came up. Thanks to everyone who was helping spot. I remained aware of where and what people were looking at even if it may have appeared as though I was ignoring you. Everybody plays a roll on days like today. Thank you

Weather:
It was a beautiful day at the summit with lots of blue sky. Some dense clouds pushed out of the area to our east at the start of the day leaving clear skies to contend with. The occasional cluster of small clouds moved through which was helpful for spotting. Winds were calm when I opened but started to increase in speed around late morning. Strong gusts were felt in the afternoon hours possibly slowing the flight. Winds remained westerly all day. Visibility was good but spotting was tough at times due to the vastness of blue sky. Temps climbed into the 60's

Raptor Observations:
We have a new high day count for the board and it's about time. The first fair weather day with a decent wind direction and the birds took advantage of it. The flights took a couple hours to really get underway but by high noon we had our biggest hour of the day with 234 birds. No solid flight lines developed and birds seemed pretty scattered about and shooting off the the northeast, north and northwest. Some birds were relatively low while others were hardly visible high overhead. Searching the occasional cloud revealed birds which appeared like tiny pin dots which makes me think we probably lost some birds in the blue. We tried to collect the whole set today but were lacking a Gos and a Peregrine. Unfortunately for Derek who had other obligations and had to leave, missed the Black Vulture which he had predicted would be coming through. The bird was spotted at 1:35pm by Dave, high above to our northwest and continued to climb as it traveled east northeast. Not the most satisfying look but a Black Vulture none the less.

Non-raptor Observations:
Not a lot of northbound passerines today. It was an ok day for Cormorants which tallied in at 288. other migrants included: 78 Tree Swallows 2 American Goldfinch 2 Pine Warblers 1 Northern Flicker

Predictions:
It looks like the potential for rain has been moved a little earlier than when I last checked, with increasing chance of precip starting around mid morning and increasing throughout the count period. Temps should remain mild despite mostly cloudy skies, maybe in the mid 50's. Wind direction looks great for migrants coming from the southwest. If showers hold off it could be a good morning.

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Report submitted by Jeannette Lovitch (freeportwildbird@yahoo.com)
Bradbury Mountain State Park information may be found at: www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com/bradbury-mountain-hawkwatch
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]

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